Currents
Overt Listening
Tiffany Sia
World Premiere
Hong Kong–born artist Tiffany Sia confronts the Cold War legacy of China in this landscape film shot amidst the serene environs of Taiwan’s Kinmen archipelago, where a major battle took place at the end of the Chinese Civil War.
- Runtime
- 85 min
- Country
- U.S./
Austria/ Germany - Language
- Mandarin Chinese,
Taiwanese Hokkien, English - Year
- 2026
- More information
- Official film page
Screenings
Hong Kong–born artist Tiffany Sia confronts the Cold War legacy of China in this landscape film shot amidst the serene environs of Taiwan’s Kinmen archipelago. On this stretch of land only 1,800 meters from the coast of China, deserted beaches and abandoned military bunkers and training facilities harbor echoes of past conflict, such as the 1949 Battle of Guningtou, the event that fixed Kinmen as one edge of the Chinese Civil War’s suspended front line. Mostly wordless, with onscreen text, Sia’s film is accompanied by a dynamic yet unsettling sonic terrain of propagandistic radio broadcasts, imported pop music, and military exercises. In Overt Listening, the artist reminds us that sound is a political presence all its own, even in the most seemingly tranquil of places.
Hong Kong–born artist Tiffany Sia confronts the Cold War legacy of China in this landscape film shot amidst the serene environs of Taiwan’s Kinmen archipelago. On this stretch of land only 1,800 meters from the coast of China, deserted beaches and abandoned military bunkers and training facilities harbor echoes of past conflict, such as the 1949 Battle of Guningtou, the event that fixed Kinmen as one edge of the Chinese Civil War’s suspended front line. Mostly wordless, with onscreen text, Sia’s film is accompanied by a dynamic yet unsettling sonic terrain of propagandistic radio broadcasts, imported pop music, and military exercises. In Overt Listening, the artist reminds us that sound is a political presence all its own, even in the most seemingly tranquil of places.